Cardboard tubes are one of my favorite mediums. They are definitely readily available and I always have some in my supply stash. They are easy to transform into fun little characters, and that’s exactly what I was thinking when I came up with this little snow scene. Do you remember building snowmen with your friends? Going sledding? Having a snowball fight? I do. Fondly. :) And so the cardboard tube children and their snowmen were born.
I’ve always loved crafting. Creating something from nothing is so relaxing to me. This particular project literally brought a smile to my face. While I was painting faces and cutting out mittens, I couldn’t help but smile as they all came to life.
After all, they were all the center of a roll of toilet paper in a former life. What better reincarnation than as a happy child playing in the snow?
If you just want to make some with your kids you can simplify a bit, like I originally intended to do with these. But my creativity got the better of me and I found myself happily embellishing their little construction paper clothes.
Who knew toilet paper could eventually bring me such happiness??
The tree line in the back is very simply green construction paper cones on craft sticks. I used different colors of glitter paint and dotted on the lights. The snow is just white paint blobbed on with a paint brush, all willy nilly like.
I painted the “flesh” area first for the faces. Then I wrapped them in construction paper. The children’s hats are made from dollar store toddler mittens. You know, those pretty much useless and cheap mittens that don’t keep your kid’s hands warm and unravel after 2 or 3 wearings? Those. They’re cute, and perfect for little hats. The scarves are just strips of felt, fringed at the end, another step you can skip to simplify this craft. The snowmen are wearing ear muffs fashioned from pom poms and chenille stems and I’ve added some buttons too.
To make these with the kids you can use googly eyes instead of paint and skip the extras like boots and mittens. I chose to cover a sheet of Styrofoam with Sno-Tex paint, you could skip that step too if you wanted too.
I hope you enjoy these as much as I did. Well, you probably won’t enjoy them as much as I did, but I hope you like them anyway. :)
- Foam Cup Snowmen - January 16, 2026
- Great Big Button Tree Art - January 14, 2026
- Paint Stick Snowmen - January 13, 2026
Mado says
Very nice, Amanda!
Patricia Meyer-Coyle says
Love this….i love using toilet rolls to make things..
Thanks Patty m
Amanda Formaro says
Thanks Patty!
Joy says
Love it! I will definitely be “borrowing” this idea for my Make & Take table at the library. Thanks.
Amanda Formaro says
So glad you like them! I had SO much fun making these little guys and girls :)
jet says
aaaw they are all sooooo cute, love it, well done.
thank you for the sharing.;-D
Amanda Formaro says
Thank you Jet :)
Lynn says
These are sooooo darn cute!!!! Thank-you!
Kimberly Turner says
Questions about the snowman…did you paint the tubes white (inside and outside) or is there a brand of toilet paper that has a white tube?
They are adorable and can’t wait for the class to make these!
Amanda says
You know, honestly I don’t remember! I do know that there are some toilet paper manufacturers that use white tubes, and that may have been the case with these. However, you can have the kids paint regular tubes with white paint, or a less messy alternative is to wrap them in white paper :)
Taryn says
Love this! Shared link/pin here:
http://pinsandprincesses.blogspot.com/2012/04/toilet-paper-tube-extravaganza.html
Amanda says
Thank you Taryn!
Sherri says
These are so cute! I would like to share this post on my website with a link back to yours. Would this be ok? I just started my blog last week and still have a lot to learn about sharing and linking. Thanks.
admin says
Hi Sherri :)
You are welcome to use one of the photos and link directly to the tutorial on Crafts by Amanda. I appreciate the mention, thanks!
Cherry says
Very cute idea – love these little snowmen!! Will have to keep this idea on hand to use with my grandkids.
Shannon at madiganmade says
The faces on these guys are so stinking adorable, Amanda! Love them! What a cute winter scene.
Amanda Formaro says
Thank you so much Shannon! :)
Brittany says
Amanda, these are adorable! I made a posterboard gingerbread house with different characters but we only made one snowman. Now I want to make more! Thanks for sharing! :)
Vicky says
These are so cute! I am just loving your little snow village. I am a new FB follower and shared a link to this on the Mess For Less Fb page. I am visiting from Someday Crafts. Vicky from Mess For Less
Amanda Formaro says
Thanks so much for the share!
maggy,red ted art says
As always very sweet! Love the children!
Thank you for sharing on Kids Get Crafty!
Maggy
Carrie @ Crafty Moms Share says
These are so cute! We are definitely going to try these this week.
Darlene Jante says
These are so cute! You have done a great job!
Jesters Brew says
This is a neat idea! I like crafts that reuse things that are just going to be thrown away. It is very green, and awful cute too! :)
Carolyn says
These are adorable!!!
Acemi CaDı says
Happy New Year 2012.. (^_^)
Sui Mode says
Looks Perfect!
Kristen S- Craft Gossip says
These are so cute! I love the pink cheeks:) Great work Amanda!!
Erika says
These are so unbelievably cute! I think I’ll make a whole winter-scape with my class of kiddos. Thank you!
Barbara "Cookie" says
You can’t help but smile when you look at these little snow people ,,Thank’s Happy New Year..
Rena says
Love these! And perfect timing — as usual!